President Obama Addresses Clean Energy Standard, Dependence On Oil

In President Barack Obama's energy speech at Georgetown University on March 30,2011 he discussed ways in which the US can work harder to increase energy independence and reduce the country's dependence on foreign oil. From electric cars to a clean energy standard, Obama outlines the hard facts about what it will take to move forward with a smart new energy policy.

Obama noted that there has been progress in the transportation sector, including the increased use of vehicles that are powered by biofuels and natural gas, as well as the auto industry's more efficient production methods involving traditional engines. According to Obama, electric vehicles are one of the most promising solutions. ''There are few breakthroughs as promising for increasing fuel efficiency and reducing our dependence on oil as electric vehicles,'' he stated.

To encourage the adoption of electric vehicles, Obama has called for 1 million of them to be on the road by 2015 and has worked with the Department of Energy to create incentives for the American people who buy the cars and the companies that develop them. In addition, the president has ordered for all government vehicles to be upgraded to either electric, alternative fuel or hybrid forms of power by 2015. Furthermore, the Obama administration has invested almost $2 billion in grants for companies that are working to develop smaller, lighter more efficient batteries for electric vehicles, which will propel the US to the forefront of the industry.

Obama also noted that the real key to the solution electric cars may provide is the need to develop cleaner, safer, more sustainable methods of generating electricity in the first place. As a result, he stated we must develop a ''clean energy standard'' in the US in a plan that calls for 80 percent clean energy generation by 2035.

''A Clean Energy Standard will help drive private investment. But government will be critical too. Over the past two years, the historic investments we've made in clean and renewable energy research and technology have helped private sector companies grow and hire hundreds of new workers.''

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